Speech recognition method of and system for determining the status of an answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call

ABSTRACT

A system for determining the status of an answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call includes an automated telephone calling device for placing a telephone call to a location having a telephone number at which a target person is listed, upon the telephone call being answered, initiating a prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person and receiving a spoken response from an answering person and a speech recognition device for performing a speech recognition analysis on the spoken response to determine a status of the spoken response. If the speech recognition device determines that the answering person is the target person, the speech recognition device initiates a speech recognition application with the target person.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/717,082 filed on Dec. 17, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/219,593 filed Sep. 2, 2005, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,363,792 issued Jan. 29, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/945,282 filed Aug. 31, 2001, now U.S.Pat. No. 6,990,179 issued Jan. 24, 2006, which claims the benefit ofpriority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/229,774,filed Sep. 1, 2000, entitled APPLICATION OF AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITIONTO OUTBOUND CALLS.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a method of and system fordetermining the status of an answered telephone during the course of anoutbound telephone call, and more particularly to a method and systemwhich utilizes speech recognition to identify and/or locate a particularperson during the course of an outbound telephone call.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the new, connected economy, it has become increasingly important forcompanies or service providers to become more in tune with their clientsand customers. Such contact can be facilitated with automated telephonictransaction systems, in which interactively-generated prompts are playedin the context of a telephone transaction, and the replies of a humanuser are recognized by an automatic speech recognition system. Theanswers given by the respondent are processed by the system in order toconvert the spoken words to meaning, which can then be utilizedinteractively, or stored in a database.

In order for a computer system to recognize the words that are spokenand convert these words to text, the system must be programmed tophonetically break down the words and convert portions of the words totheir textural equivalents. Such a conversion requires an understandingof the components of speech and the formation of the spoken word. Theproduction of speech generates a complex series of rapidly changingacoustic pressure waveforms. These waveforms comprise the basic buildingblocks of speech, known as phonemes. Vowel and consonant sounds are madeup of phonemes and have many different characteristics, depending onwhich components of human speech are used. The position of a phoneme ina word has a significant effect on the ultimate sound generated. Aspoken word can have several meanings, depending on how it is said.Speech scientists have identified allophones as acoustic variants ofphonemes and use them to more explicitly define how a particular word isformed.

While there are several distinct methods for analyzing the spoken wordand extracting the information necessary to enable the recognitionsystem to convert the speech to word-strings, including Hidden Markovmodeling and neural networks, these methods generally perform similaroperations. The differences in these methods are typically in the mannerin which the system determines how to break the phonetic signal intoportions that define phonemes. Generally, a speech recognition systemfirst converts an incoming analog voice signal into a digital signal.The second step is called feature extraction, wherein the systemanalyzes the digital signal to identify the acoustic properties of thedigitized signal. Feature extraction generally breaks the voice downinto its individual sound components. Conventional techniques forperforming feature extraction include subband coding Fast FourierTransforms and Linear Predictive Coding. Once the signal has beenanalyzed, the system then determines where distinct acoustic regionsoccur. The goal of this step is to divide the acoustic signal intoregions that will be identified as phonemes which can be converted to atextual format. In isolated word systems, this process is simplified,because there is a pause after each word. In continuous speech systems,however, this process is much more difficult, since there typically areno breaks between words in the acoustic stream. Accordingly, the systemmust be able not only to break the words themselves into distinctacoustic regions, but must also be able to separate consecutive words inthe stream. It is in this step that conventional methods such as HiddenMarkov modeling and neural networks are used. The final step involvescomparing a specific acoustic region, as determined in the previousstep, to a known set of templates in a database in order to determinethe word or word portion represented by the acoustic signal region. If amatch is found, the resulting textual word is output from the system. Ifone is not, the signal can either be dynamically manipulated in order toincrease the chances of finding a match, or the data can be discardedand the system prompted to repeat the query to the respondent, if theassociated answer cannot be determined due to the loss of the data.

In customer service applications, it is important for service providersto be able to obtain information from, or to provide information to,their customers. Oftentimes, service providers will need to contactcustomers via the telephone to obtain or provide the desiredinformation. In order to reduce the costs associated with suchinformation exchanges, many service providers utilize automatedtelephone calling devices to contact customers. However, if someoneother than the particular person being called answers the telephone, theinformation exchange will most likely be unsuccessful and the serviceprovider will have wasted valuable resources.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method of and system fordetermining the status of an answered telephone during the course of anoutbound call. The system includes an automated telephone calling systemwhich initiates a telephone call to a target person listed at aparticular telephone number. When the telephone call is answered, thesystem first determines whether a live person or an answering machinehas answered the telephone. If an answering machine is detected, thesystem leaves a message for the target person. If a live person answersthe telephone, the system utilizes a speech recognition analysis todetermine the status of the answering person and to attempt to locatethe target person, if the answering person is not the target person.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method of determining thestatus of an answered telephone during the course of an outboundtelephone call includes:

A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to alocation having a telephone number at which a target person is listed;

B. upon the telephone call being answered, initiating a prerecordedgreeting which asks for the target person;

C. receiving a spoken response from an answering person;

D. performing a speech recognition analysis on the spoken response todetermine a status of the spoken response; and

E. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the answeringperson is the target person, initiating a speech recognition applicationwith the target person.

If the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken responseindicates that the answering person is not the target person, a nextstep may include initiating a prerecorded query asking for the targetperson. Upon the target person answering the telephone call, the methodmay further include initiating a speech recognition application with thetarget person. If the speech recognition analysis determines that thespoken response indicates that the target person is not present at thelocation, a next step may include initiating a prerecorded query askingto leave a message for the target person. The method may further includea step of providing a prerecorded message to the answering person. Instep D, if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spokenresponse is a hold request, a next step may include entering a waitstate to wait for the target person to provide a spoken response to thetelephone call. Upon the target person providing a spoken response tothe telephone call, the method may further include initiating a speechrecognition application with the target person. In step D, if the speechrecognition analysis determines that the spoken response is a requestfor the identity of the entity responsible for the calling system, themethod may further include initiating a prerecorded response indicatingthe identity of the calling party, repeating the prerecorded greetingwhich asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E.In step D, if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spokenresponse indicates that the telephone number is not the correct numberfor the target person, the method may further include initiating aprerecorded apology message and terminating the telephone call. If thespeech recognition analysis cannot determine a status of the spokenresponse, the method may further include repeating the prerecordedgreeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C throughstep E.

According to another aspect of the invention, a system for determiningthe status of an answered telephone during the course of an outboundtelephone call includes an automated telephone calling device forplacing a telephone call to a location having a telephone number atwhich a target person is listed, and a speech recognition device which,upon the telephone call being answered, initiates a prerecorded greetingwhich asks for the target person, receives a spoken response from ananswering person and performs a speech recognition analysis on thespoken response to determine a status of the spoken response. If thespeech recognition device determines that the answering person is thetarget person, the speech recognition device initiates a speechrecognition application with the target person.

If the speech recognition device determines that the spoken responseindicates that the answering person is not the target person, the speechrecognition system may instruct the automated telephone calling deviceto initiate a prerecorded query asking for the target person. Upon thetarget person answering the telephone call, the speech recognitionsystem may initiate a speech recognition application with the targetperson. If the speech recognition device determines that the spokenresponse indicates that the target person is not present at thelocation, the speech recognition system may instruct the automatedtelephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded query asking to leavea message for the target person. The automated telephone calling devicemay provide a prerecorded message to the answering person. If the speechrecognition device determines that the spoken response is a holdrequest, the speech recognition may enter a wait state to wait for thetarget person to provide a spoken response to the telephone call. Whenthe speech recognition device determines that the target person hasprovided a spoken response to the telephone call, the speech recognitiondevice may initiate a speech recognition application with the targetperson. If the speech recognition device determines that the spokenresponse is a request for the identity of the entity responsible for theautomated calling device, the speech recognition system may instruct theautomated telephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded responseindicating the identity of the entity and to repeat the prerecordedgreeting which asks for the target person. Upon receiving a spokenresponse from the answering person, the speech recognition device mayperform a speech recognition analysis on the spoken response todetermine the status of the spoken response. If the speech recognitiondevice determines that the spoken response indicates that the telephonenumber is not the correct number for the target person, the speechrecognition system may instruct the automated telephone calling deviceto initiate a prerecorded apology message and to terminate the telephonecall. If the speech recognition device cannot determine a status of thespoken response, the speech recognition system may instruct theautomated telephone calling device to repeat the prerecorded greetingwhich asks for the target person, and, upon receiving a spoken responsefrom the answering person, the speech recognition device may perform aspeech recognition analysis on the spoken response to determine thestatus of the spoken response.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for determiningthe status of an answered telephone during the course of an outboundtelephone call includes:

A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to alocation having a telephone number at which a target person is listed;

B. upon the telephone call being answered, playing a prerecordedgreeting which asks for the target person;

C. receiving a spoken response from an answering person;

D. performing a speech recognition analysis on the spoken response todetermine a status of the spoken response; and

E. providing at least one of the following responses based on the speechrecognition analysis:

-   -   a. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the        answering person is the target person, initiating a speech        recognition application with the target person;    -   b. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken        response indicates that the answering person is not the target        person, initiating a prerecorded query asking for the target        person, wherein, upon the target person answering the telephone        call, the method further comprises initiating a speech        recognition application with the target person;    -   c. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken        response indicates that the target person is not present at the        location, initiating a prerecorded query asking to leave a        message for the target person;    -   d. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken        response is a hold request, entering a wait state to wait for        the target person to provide a spoken response to the telephone        call, wherein, upon the target person providing a spoken        response to the telephone call, the method further comprises        initiating a speech recognition application with the target        person;    -   e. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken        response is a request for the identity of the entity responsible        for the calling system, initiating a prerecorded response        indicating the identity of the calling party, repeating the        prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and        repeating step C through step E;    -   f. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken        response indicates that the telephone number is not the correct        number for the target person, initiating a prerecorded apology        message and terminating the telephone call; and    -   g. if the speech recognition analysis cannot determine a status        of the spoken response, repeating the prerecorded greeting which        asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method of detectingan answering machine includes:

A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to alocation having a telephone number at which a target person is listed;

B. upon the telephone call being answered, waiting for a predeterminedtime period for a spoken response;

C. upon receiving the spoken response, initiating a prerecorded greetingprompt which asks for the target person;

D. while playing the prerecorded greeting prompt, attempting to detect afurther spoken response in excess of a predetermined time parameter;

E. in the absence of detecting the further spoken response during theplaying of the prerecorded greeting prompt, initiating a queryapplication;

F. upon detecting the further spoken response during the playing of theprerecorded greeting prompt, terminating the playing of the prerecordedprompt; and

G. indicating that an answering machine has been detected.

The method may further include the step of attempting to detect a beeptone during the playing of the prerecorded greeting prompt and, upon thedetection of a beep tone, interrupting the prerecorded greeting promptand playing a prerecorded answering machine message prompt. The methodmay further include attempting to detect a beep tone during the playingof the prerecorded answering machine message prompt and, upon thedetection of a beep tone, interrupting the prerecorded answering machinemessage prompt and replaying the prerecorded prompt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects of this invention, the various featuresthereof, as well as the invention itself may be more fully understoodfrom the following description when read together with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the system for determining thestatus of an answered telephone during the course of an outboundtelephone call in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a method for detecting an answering machinein accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method for determining the status of ananswered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call inaccordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention will be described. System 12, FIG. 1, includes an automatedtelephone calling system 14 and a speech recognition system 16.Preferably, the automated telephone calling system 14 is a personalcomputer such as an IBM PC or IBM PC compatible system or an APPLEMacINTOSH system or a more advanced computer system such as anAlpha-based computer system available from Compaq Computer Corporationor SPARC Station computer system available from SUN MicrosystemsCorporation, although a main frame computer system can also be used. Insuch a system, all of the components of the system will reside on thecomputer system, thus enabling the system to independently process datareceived from a respondent in the manner described below. Alternatively,the components may be included in different systems that have access toeach other via a LAN or similar network. For example, the automatedtelephone calling device 14 may reside on a server system which receivesthe audio response from a telephone 18 and transmits the response to thespeech recognition device 16.

The automated telephone calling system 14 may also include a networkinterface that facilitates receipt of audio information by any of avariety of a networks, such as telephone networks, cellular telephonenetworks, the Web, Internet, local area networks (LANs), wide areanetworks (WANs), private networks, virtual private networks (VPNs),intranets, extranets, wireless networks, and the like, or somecombination thereof. The system 12 may be accessible by any one or moreof a variety of input devices capable of communicating audioinformation. Such devices may include, but are not limited to, astandard telephone or cellular telephone 18.

Automated telephone calling system 14 includes a database of persons towhom the system 12 is capable of initiating telephone calls, each suchperson being referred to hereinafter as the “target person”, a telephonenumber associated with each person and a recorded data file thatincludes the target person's name. Such automated telephone callingdevices are known in the art. As is described below, the automatedtelephone calling system 14 is capable of initiating a telephone call toa target person and playing a prerecorded greeting prompt asking for thetarget person. The system 14 then interacts with speech recognitionsystem 16 to analyze responses received from the person on telephone 18.

Speech recognition system 16 is an automated system on which a speechrecognition application, including a series of acoustic outputs calledprompts, which comprise queries about a particular topic, are programmedso that they can be presented to a respondent, preferably by means of atelephonic interaction between the querying party and the respondent.However, a speech recognition application may be any interactiveapplication that collects, provides, and/or shares information. Asexamples, in the present invention, a speech application may be any of agroup of interactive applications, including consumer surveyapplications; Web access applications; educational applications,including computer-based learning and lesson applications and testingapplications; screening applications; consumer preference monitoringapplications; compliance applications, including applications thatgenerate notifications of compliance related activities, includingnotifications regarding product maintenance; test result applications,including applications that provide at least one of standardized testsresults, consumer product test results, and maintenance results; andlinking applications, including applications that link two or more ofthe above applications.

In the preferred embodiment, each speech recognition applicationincludes an application file programmed into the speech recognitionsystem 16. Preferably, the series of queries that make up theapplication is designed to obtain specific information from therespondents to aid in customer or consumer service, education andresearch and development of particular products or services or otherfunctions. For example, a particular speech application could bedesigned to ask respondents specific queries about a particular productor service. The entity that issues the application may then use thisinformation to further develop the particular product or service. Anapplication may also be used to provide specific information to aparticular person.

When the automated telephone calling device 12 initiates a call to thetarget person, it must be able to determine if the call was answered bya live person or by an answering machine. The method carried out by thesystem 12 is shown in flow diagram 20 of FIG. 2. In step 22, theautomated telephone calling system initiates an outbound telephone callto a target person who is listed at the telephone number of telephone18, FIG. 1. Upon the telephone 18 being answered, the system 12 waitsuntil it detects either an initial greeting from a live person, which istypically “Hello”, or the beginning of an answering machine message,step 24. The system does not need to distinguish between a live personor machine at this point in the transaction. After the initial responseis detected, the system initiates a greeting prompt which asks for thetarget person using a prerecorded message that includes the targetperson's name, step 26. While this greeting prompt is being played, thespeech recognition system 16 attempts to detect a spoken response whichis longer than a predetermined time, for example 1,600 ms, step 32. Thisminimum time is observed to eliminate any line noise that might causethe speech recognition system to incorrectly detect a speech responsefrom a live person. The system assumes that if a live person hasanswered the telephone, he or she will not talk during the initialgreeting prompt. On the other hand, an answering machine will play itsgreeting message regardless of whether the calling party is speaking. Ifno spoken response longer than the predetermined time is detected, step32, the speech recognition system 16 determines that a live person hasanswered the telephone and waits for a response to the greeting prompt,step 34. If a spoken response longer than the predetermined time isdetected, step 32, the speech recognition system determines that ananswering machine has answered the telephone, step 38.

While the greeting prompt is being played, the speech recognition system16 also attempts to detect the short tone or “beep” output by ananswering machine, step 30. If no beep tone is detected, step 36, thespeech recognition system 16 determines that a live person has answeredthe telephone and waits for a response to the greeting prompt, step 34.If a beep tone is detected, step 36, the speech recognition system 16determines that an answering machine has answered the telephone, step40.

Once the speech recognition system 16 has determined that an answeringmachine has answered the telephone 18, at step 38 or 40, the greetingprompt is interrupted, step 41, and a prerecorded answering machinemessage prompt is played to the answering machine, step 42. As is thecase during the playing of the greeting prompt, if, during the playingof the answering machine message prompt, a spoken response is detectedwhich is greater than the predetermined time, step 44, or a beep tone isdetected, step 46, the answering machine message prompt is interruptedand replayed, step 42. This insures that the answering machine messageprompt is properly aligned with the answering machine recorder. When theanswering machine message prompt has been played in its entirety withoutthe detection of a spoken response, step 44 or a beep tone, step 46, theprocess ends, step 48.

As described above, when the telephone 18 is answered, the speechrecognition system 16 plays a greeting prompt, step 26, FIG. 2. Anexample greeting prompt is “This is Party X calling for Y (Name oftarget person). Is this he (she)?” If no spoken response or beep tone isdetected during the greeting prompt, the speech recognition system waitsfor a response to the greeting prompt, step 34. The speech recognitionsystem 16 operates to determine the status of the person who answeredthe telephone and, if the answering person is not the target person,attempts to locate the target person. Step 26, in which the greetingprompt is initiated, is shown in FIG. 3, which is a flow diagram showingthe method for determining the status of an answered telephone. Afterthe greeting prompt is played, the speech recognition system 16 must beable to recognize and handle several different response scenarios. Eachof these responses are described below. While examples of responses areincluded in the description, it will be understood that the speechrecognition system 16 may be programmed to recognize any variation ofthe examples given below. The examples are provided to show expectedresponses in each of the response scenarios described below. Therefore,the present invention is not to be limited by these examples.

In step 50, the speech recognition system 16 determines that theanswering person is the target person based on the answer to thegreeting prompt. Typical answers that indicate that the answering personis indeed the target person include:

A. “Yes”

B. “This is him/her/he/she/me/Y (name asked for)

C. “Yes it is”

D. “Speaking”

E. “Go ahead”

F. “You got him/her”

When either of these responses is received by speech recognition system16, the system analyzes the response and determines that the answeringperson is the target person. The speech recognition system theninitiates the speech recognition application with the target person,step 52.

If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by speechrecognition system 16 is determined to be one of the following:

A. “He/she is not here”

B. “He/she is out (now)”

C. “He/she is away”

the speech recognition system 16 determines that the target person isnot available, step 54. Based on this determination, the speechrecognition system 16 plays a message prompt asking the answering personif he/she will take a message, step 56. As shown in FIG. 3, a typicalmessage prompt is “Will you take a message?” The speech recognitiondevice 16 receives the spoken response to this prompt and analyzes it todetermine the answer to the prompt. If the answer is determined to be“No”, the speech recognition system 16 plays a termination prompt, step58, thanking the answering person, and the call is terminated. If theanswer to the message prompt is determined to be “Yes”, the speechrecognition system 16 plays a prerecorded message for the answeringperson, step 60. Such a message could identify the entity that isresponsible for the call and provide a phone number for the targetperson to call. After the prerecorded message is played, a repeat promptis played, step 62, giving the answering person the option of having themessage repeated. Based on the response provided by the answeringperson, the speech recognition system either repeats the message, step60, or plays the termination prompt, step 58, and terminates the call.

If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by speechrecognition system 16 is determined to be one of the following:

A. “No”

B. “It isn't”

C. “It isn't he/she/him/her”

D. “No, this is not he/she/him/her”

E. “No, this is not”

F. “This is his/her wife/husband”

the speech recognition system 16 determines that the answering personhas indicated that the answering person is not the target person, step64. Based on this determination, the speech recognition system plays ahold prompt asking the answering person if the speech recognition system16 should hold for the target person, step 66. As shown in FIG. 3, atypical hold prompt is “Should I hold for Y?” The speech recognitiondevice 16 receives the spoken response to this prompt and analyzes it todetermine the answer to the prompt. If the answer is determined to be“No”, the speech recognition system 16 plays the message prompt, step56, and proceeds through the message procedure described above. If theanswer is determined to be “Yes”, the system waits, step 68, until afurther spoken response is detected. When a spoken response is receivedby the speech recognition system 16, the system plays an identificationprompt, step 70, asking if the person is the target person. If theanswer to the identification prompt is determined to be “No”, the speechrecognition system 16 plays the message prompt, step 56, and proceedsthrough the message procedure described above. If the answer isdetermined to be “Yes”, the speech recognition system then initiates thespeech recognition application with the target person, step 52.

If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by speechrecognition system 16 is determined to be one of the following:

A. “Who is calling?”

B. “Who am I speaking with?”

C. “What can I do for you?”

D. “Can I ask what this is for?”

E. “Can I ask what this is about?”

F. “Can I tell him/her who this is?”

G. “What is this/it for/about?”

H. “Who is this?”

I. “Who are you?”

the speech recognition system 16 determines that the answering personhas asked for the identity of the entity responsible for the call, step72. Based on this determination, the speech recognition system plays aprerecorded message that identifies the entity and, optionally, thereason for the call, step 74. The speech recognition system then playsthe hold prompt asking the answering person if the speech recognitionsystem 16 should hold for the target person, step 66. The speechrecognition device 16 receives the spoken response to this prompt andanalyzes it to determine the answer to the prompt. If the answer isdetermined to be “No”, the speech recognition system 16 plays themessage prompt, step 56, and proceeds through the message proceduredescribed above. If the answer is determined to be “Yes”, the systemwaits, step 68, until a further spoken response is detected. When aspoken response is received by the speech recognition system 16, thesystem plays an identification prompt, step 70, asking if the person isthe target person. If the answer to the identification prompt isdetermined to be “No”, the speech recognition system 16 plays themessage prompt, step 56, and proceeds through the message proceduredescribed above. If the answer is determined to be “Yes”, the speechrecognition system then initiates the speech recognition applicationwith the target person, step 52, as indicated by connector 71.

If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by speechrecognition system 16 is determined to be one of the following:

A. “Hold”

B. “He's/she's here, hold on”

C. “Just a minute/moment/second”

D. “Yes, hold on”

the speech recognition system 16 determines that the answering personhas asked the system to hold, step 76. Based on this determination, thesystem waits, step 68, until a further spoken response is detected. Whena spoken response is received by the speech recognition system 16, thesystem plays an identification prompt, step 70, asking if the person isthe target person. If the answer to the identification prompt isdetermined to be “No”, the speech recognition system 16 plays themessage prompt, step 56, and proceeds through the message proceduredescribed above. If the answer is determined to be “Yes”, the speechrecognition system then initiates the speech recognition applicationwith the target person, step 52, as indicated by connector 71.

If, after the greeting prompt is played, step 26, the spoken response tothe greeting prompt received by the speech recognition system 16 isdetermined to be “Hello?”, step 78, the speech recognition system 16determines that the phone has been picked up by the target person. Basedon this determination, the system plays the identification prompt, step70, asking if the person is the target person. If the answer to theidentification prompt is determined to be “No”, the speech recognitionsystem 16 plays the message prompt, step 56, and proceeds through themessage procedure described above. If the answer is determined to be“Yes”, the speech recognition system then initiates the speechrecognition application with the target person, step 52, as indicated byconnector 71.

If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by the speechrecognition system 16 is determined to be one of the following:

A. “You (must) have the wrong number”

B. “You've got the wrong number”

C. “There is no one here by that name”

D. “No one by that name lives here”

the speech recognition system 16 determines that it has dialed a wrongnumber, step 80. Based on this determination, the speech recognitionsystem 16 plays the termination prompt, step 82, thanking the answeringperson, and the call is terminated.

In the case in which the spoken response to the greeting prompt isunrecognized by the speech recognition system 16, or there is noresponse within a predetermined time period, such that none of thepreceding steps can be followed, step 84, the speech recognition system16 determines if any of the words of the response were recognized, step86. If one or more of the words of the response are recognized, thespeech recognition system 16 may play the identification prompt, askingif the answering person is the target person, step 88. In order toindicate to the answering person that the system did not understand theinitial spoken response, the identification prompt may be modified to “Idid not hear you well, is this Y?”

If none of the words of the spoken response to the greeting prompt arerecognized, step 86, or if no response is received, the system jumps tostep 66, as indicated by connector 90 in FIG. 3, in which the holdprompt is played. In order to indicate to the answering person that thesystem did not understand the initial spoken response, the hold promptin this instance may be modified to “I did not hear you well, should Ihold for Y?” The system then follows the steps from step 66 as describedabove.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of and system fordetermining the status of an answered telephone during the course of anoutbound call. The system includes an automated telephone calling systemwhich initiates a telephone call to a target person listed at aparticular telephone number. When the telephone call is answered, thesystem first determines whether a live person or an answering machinehas answered the telephone. If an answering machine is detected, thesystem leaves a message for the target person. If a live person answersthe telephone, the system utilizes a speech recognition analysis todetermine the status of the answering person and to attempt to locatethe target person, if the answering person is not the target person. Ifthe target person is available, the system initiates a speechrecognition application. Otherwise, the system either attempts to leavea message for the target person, or simply terminates the call.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. For example, thesystem may be utilized to connect a live person to the target person. Inthis instance, once the system has determined that the target person ison the line, a live person may be connected to the target person, ratherthan the speech recognition algorithm, for the purpose of conducting alive conversation with the target person. The present embodiments aretherefore to be considered in respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appendedclaims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes whichcome within the meaning and range of the equivalency of the claims aretherefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed:
 1. A method of determining the status of an answeredtelephone during the course of an outbound telephone call comprising:(A) placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to alocation having a telephone number at which a target person is listed;(B1) upon said telephone call being answered, initiating a prerecordedgreeting which asks for the target person; (B2) while the prerecordedgreeting is being played, attempting to detect a spoken response that islonger than a predetermined time; (C) based on detecting that the spokenresponse is not longer than the predetermined time, determining that aspoken response has been received from an answering person; (D)performing a speech recognition analysis on said spoken response todetermine a status of said answering person; and (E) upon said speechrecognition analysis determining that said answering person is saidtarget person, initiating a speech recognition application with saidtarget person, wherein the speech recognition application comprises aconsumer survey application, an educational application, a learning andlesson application, a testing application, a test results application,or a compliance application.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein, in stepD, if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spokenresponse indicates that said answering person is not said target person,a next step comprises initiating a prerecorded query asking for saidtarget person.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein, upon said target personanswering said telephone call, said method further comprises initiatinga speech recognition application with said target person.
 4. The methodof claim 1 wherein, in step D, if said speech recognition analysisdetermines that said spoken response indicates that said target personis not present at said location, a next step comprises initiating aprerecorded query asking to leave a message for said target person. 5.The method of claim 4 further comprising a step of providing aprerecorded message to said answering person.
 6. The method of claim 1wherein, in step D, if said speech recognition analysis determines thatsaid spoken response is a hold request, a next step comprises entering await state to wait for said target person to provide a spoken responseto said telephone call.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein, upon saidtarget person providing a spoken response to said telephone call, saidmethod further comprises initiating a speech recognition applicationwith said target person.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step D, ifsaid speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response isa request for the identity of the entity responsible for the callingsystem, the method further comprises initiating a prerecorded responseindicating the identity of the calling party, repeating said prerecordedgreeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C throughstep E.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step D, if said speechrecognition analysis determines that said spoken response indicates thatsaid telephone number is not the correct number for the target person,the method further comprises initiating a prerecorded apology messageand terminating said telephone call.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein,in step D, if said speech recognition analysis cannot determine a statusof said spoken response, said method further comprises repeating saidprerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and repeatingstep C through step E.
 11. A system for determining the status of ananswered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone callcomprising: an automated telephone calling device for placing atelephone call to a location having a telephone number at which a targetperson is listed; and a speech recognition device which, upon saidtelephone call being answered, initiates a prerecorded greeting whichasks for the target person, receives a spoken response from an answeringperson and performs a speech recognition analysis on said spokenresponse to determine a status of said answering person; wherein thespeech recognition device is configured to, while the prerecordedgreeting is being played, attempt to detect a spoken response that islonger than a predetermined time; wherein the speech recognition deviceis further configured to, based on detecting that the spoken response isnot longer than the predetermined time, determine that a spoken responsehas been received from the answering person; wherein, upon said speechrecognition device determining that said answering person is said targetperson, said speech recognition device initiates a speech recognitionapplication with said target person, wherein the speech recognitionapplication comprises a consumer survey application, an educationalapplication, a learning and lesson application, a testing application, atest results application, or a compliance application.
 12. The system ofclaim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition device determines that saidspoken response indicates that said answering person is not said targetperson, said speech recognition system instructs said automatedtelephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded query asking for saidtarget person.
 13. The system of claim 12 wherein, upon said targetperson answering said telephone call, said speech recognition systeminitiates a speech recognition application with said target person. 14.The system of claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition devicedetermines that said spoken response indicates that said target personis not present at said location, said speech recognition systeminstructs said automated telephone calling device to initiate aprerecorded query asking to leave a message for said target person. 15.The system of claim 14 wherein said automated telephone calling deviceprovides a prerecorded message to said answering person.
 16. The systemof claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognition device determines thatsaid spoken response is a hold request, said speech recognition enters await state to wait for said target person to provide a spoken responseto said telephone call.
 17. The system of claim 16 wherein, when saidspeech recognition device determines that said target person hasprovided a spoken response to said telephone call, said speechrecognition device initiates a speech recognition application with saidtarget person.
 18. The system of claim 11 wherein, if said speechrecognition device determines that said spoken response is a request forthe identity of the entity responsible for the automated calling device,the speech recognition system instructs said automated telephone callingdevice to initiate a prerecorded response indicating the identity of theentity and to repeat said prerecorded greeting which asks for the targetperson; wherein, upon receiving a spoken response from the answeringperson, said speech recognition device performs a speech recognitionanalysis on said spoken response to determine the status of said spokenresponse.
 19. The method of claim 11 wherein, if said speech recognitiondevice determines that said spoken response indicates that saidtelephone number is not the correct number for the target person, saidspeech recognition system instructs said automated telephone callingdevice to initiate a prerecorded apology message and to terminate saidtelephone call.
 20. The method of claim 11 wherein, if said speechrecognition device cannot determine a status of said spoken response,said speech recognition system instructs said automated telephonecalling device to repeat said prerecorded greeting which asks for thetarget person; wherein, upon receiving a spoken response from theanswering person, said speech recognition device performs a speechrecognition analysis on said spoken response to determine the status ofsaid spoken response.